Professor/Student Love Contract

Now, when I was in college, I always wished that I could date the hot female professor. Isn't that the dream of most male and some female college students? Of course this was taboo and of course it was against the rules. This was part of the thrill of the whole thing, right?

Well, now there is a UCLA professor who is standing up for the professor/student romantic relationship. That's right, boys and girls. Psychology professor Paul R. Abramson, 57, currently on his fourth marriage, in a new book, argues that consenting adults (meaning professors and students) should be able to have a romantic relationship. (LA Times) So much so, that he advocates this:

To allay legal fears, he suggests an alternative: All faculty and students would read and sign a release (a "love contract") that would warn about the power differences and favoritism that can arise from faculty-student dating. They then would promise, as in a medical release, not to hold the school responsible if the romance goes sour.

Uh, yeah. Like that would really work. This "policy" would be in place for about half a semester until the first allegation of rape took place. Universities always like dealing with rape allegations (see: Duke University).

As far as concepts and policies similar to this idea, one only has to look here to the Antioch College Sexual Offense Prevention Policy. Yup, that worked so well it was parodied on SNL (although I couldn't find it on youtube, but it was hilarious!)

Finally, why the picture from The Graduate? (image credit) I don't know. It really doesn't fit with this post. But, oh well. This movie just came to my mind when I was writing this....

Update: Thanks to The Guardian for linking to this post. I really appreciate it!

Another blogger, Dr Anonymous, cheekily included an image of the actor Dustin Hoffman's most famous academic moment, as if to ask, "Are you trying to seduce me, Mr Abramson?"